U.S. Forces in Okinawa returned base site with oil drums

The U.S. Forces have buried at least 40 oil drums in the ground and returned the site to Japan, according to the office of Chatan Town, an Okinawan town half of whose gross area is still part of the U.S. base.

The oil drums were discovered on January 29 at a store in front of a junior high school at Mihama, with some drums leaking black oil. The base site was returned from the U.S. Forces to Japan in 1981.

Finding English writing on the caps of the drums and getting testimonies from former base workers that they buried them under a U.S. directive, the town government judged that the U.S. Forces are responsible for returning the site without cleaning up the pollution.

Hentona Choichi, Chatan's mayor, demanded that the Japanese government take steps to dispose of the oil drums without delay. (end)